Movie notes: ‘The Roommate’ a no-show

It looks like Miami Herald movie critic Rene Rodriguez hit upon the reason why “The Roommate,” a creepy-looking thriller that opens Friday, isn’t being screened in advance for critics when he wrote this capsule preview: “A college student (Minka Kelly) starts to suspect her new dorm roommate (Leighton Meester) is a crazy, deranged stalker. ‘Single White Female II,’ anyone?”

In “Single White Female” (1992), newly unengaged career woman Bridget Fonda was menaced by the Roommate From Hell (Jennifer Jason Leigh), who responded to an ad in the personals. The “Roommate” trailer sure makes it look like “SWF” transplanted into a college dorm, with Meester (“Gossip Girl,” “Country Strong”) seemingly ready to dispatch anyone who comes between her and Kelly (“Friday Night Lights”).

Maybe the studio (Screen Gems) is hoping the eye-candy factor will be a major draw. In addition to Kelly (also known as Derek Jeter’s main squeeze)and Meester, both alums of Maxim magazine’s “Hot 100” list, there’s also Cam Gigandet (known to “Twilight” fans as the Bella-hungry vampire who gets his head ripped off in the first movie) as a boyfriend who may be in harm’s way; and Alyson Michalka (“Easy A,” “Bandslam”) who appparently makes the mistake of showering with Meester lurking nearby.

Rodriguez probably has the no-show decision nailed — “The Roommate” might well have been panned as a stealth remake. Or maybe a ripoff.